Court sends ex-IMF chief to prison in credit card scandal

MADRID (AP) — Spain's National Court has sentenced Rodrigo Rato, a former head of the International Monetary Fund, to 4 ½ years in prison for misusing a Spanish bank's corporate credit card.

The court convicted Rato of unlawful misappropriation of funds during his 2010-12 leadership of Bankia, a bank that later had to be bailed out. It found that the credit cards were used for irregular and undeclared expenses.

The court said in its ruling Thursday that the 64 other defendants in the case were sent to prison for terms between three months and six years.

Rato was IMF chief from 2004 to 2007 and a leading figure in Spain's governing Popular Party from 1996 to 2004. He had denied wrongdoing in the credit card scandal.